2026-09-11 / Signal #5
The “Waymo effect”: AI is teaching researchers to prefer talking to a chatbot over a colleague
“We summoned a car with no driver. Then we summoned a colleague with no colleague.”
The Story
An essay circulating among researchers argues that large language models act like driverless cars: they remove the friction of dealing with other humans, and we experience that as pure gain. The author calls the result “decollaboration”—the slow unraveling of the social fabric that actually produces new ideas.
Why It Matters
The same technology that made solo coding feel superhuman is now making solo thinking feel superhuman. The future of science might be quieter, faster, and lonelier.
Evidence
Research Agenda essay (trending on HN, 88 points, hours old). Primary URL: https://www.researchagenda.news/articles/the-waymo-effect.html
Sources
Daily scan: 2026-09-11